Bone Marrow Transplantation
This mode of treatment has now entered the main stream for Non-Hodgkins lymphoma treatment and are specially employed for the types that are resistant to radiation or chemotherapy.
Radiation or the drugs administered to the patient inevitably destroy the bone marrow cells. Therefore, prior to the commencement of chemotherapy, the marrow cells are removed and stored at very low temperatures. After chemotherapy, the frozen cells are thawed out to be replaced in the patient. This is an autologous transplant. Peripheral stem cells too can be removed and processed to be autologously transplanted in the patient. This procedure can be carried out in isolation or in combination with autologous bone marrow transplant.
When the replaced bone marrow comes from a matching donor it is called allogenic transplant.
